A slit or narrow opening, usually in the shape of a rectangle or circle, for receiving something, as a coin or a letter. Also: a place or position in an order, series, or sequence; a job or assignment. Also: a piece of wood or other material cut in such a way that it can be inserted into a hole or recess in another item.

When you use an online slot machine, you put coins or money into the machine and click the spin button. The reels then rotate and stop at different placements on the screen, based on a random number sequence that’s generated by the machine’s software. If the symbols match a payline, you win money according to its payout rules.

The game logic behind a slot is determined by the machine’s random number generator, which produces different numbers every millisecond. Because the RNG is impartial, it doesn’t know if any of those numbers match a particular symbol or sequence. It only knows that the outcome of a single spin will be based on that specific set of numbers.

A slot is a dynamic placeholder that either waits for content (a passive slot) or calls out for it (an active slot). It’s best to use only one scenario per slot for offer management because using multiple scenarios may result in unpredictable results if the slots aren’t configured properly. Slot properties are described in detail in the Using Slots chapter of the ATG Personalization Programming Guide.